Failing Grade for Illinois Veterans Home

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN/KMOX) – An Illinois veterans home in Anna is in trouble with the state auditor’s office. The home, in southern Illinois gave out scarce beds that should have gone to others, including combat veterans.

An auditor general’s report on the Department of Veterans’ Affairs indicates somebody who was ninth on the waiting list was passed over in favor of nineteen people who were either below him or not on the list at all. The misstep may have delayed that resident’s entry by a year or more.

Louis Pukelis, the department’s spokesman, says the employee involved has been disciplined: “It wasn’t an honest mistake, nor wasn’t it anything blatant on the part of the employee. What it was poor record-keeping.”

What’s more, the department did not implement an outpatient counseling program for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. “The department was unable to fulfill all three elements of the mandated PTSD program primarily because of a lack of funding by the General Assembly,” says Pukelis, who says the department will work harder in the next session to make its needs clear to lawmakers.

Pukelis says there are other ways the state helps PTSD sufferers, including the Illinois Warrior Assistance Program